Building Up
by DarkMoon1301
Summary: Katara has a special surprise for Aang. Post-series. Warning: The breaks aren't showing. I don't know why. Good luck!


**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. **

**Well hello there! This idea has been floating around in my head for some time, and I've just now gotten to writing it out. It actually came to me in a dream! So let's see how it turned out, shall we?**

**Much love and cupcakes,**

**DarkMoon1301**

**Building Up**

She knew it was a huge undertaking, but she also knew it would be worth it in the end. She didn't know what had made her decide to do it in the first place, but she knew, somehow, he'd love it. She just had to make sure he didn't know about it until she was ready to tell him.

"Katara, are you sure you want to do this?" Sokka asked.

"Absolutely Sokka. I really think this would be good for him."

"Okay, I'll go get Appa from him. Make sure you're ready when I get back!" Sokka began to walk towards the Fire Nation palace. "And don't take all the seal jerkey!" he called over his shoulder.

Katara rolled her eyes and continued packing. She knew it would suck, for lack of a better word, to be away from everyone for so long. But it would be worth it.

She'd had the idea a few weeks ago and had been preparing ever since. She was going to the Southern Air Temple. She'd only been there once, when she went with Aang soon after they found him. He'd been so broken at the sight of Monk Gyatso's skeleton, and she knew that it haunted him to this day, even though he was already eighteen. She knew that he felt alone because he was the last airbender. So she came up with the idea of fixing the Southern Air Temple. Unknown to them, she was pregnant with their first child, and she'd had a dream. Monk Gyatso had come and told her that her little one was going to be an airbender. She was ecstatic. She was barely two weeks along. She wanted her little one to grow up in it's true culture. She knew it would mean the world to Aang, even if he would never actually ask it of her. But she knew.

So here she was, packing up everything she had and leaving everyone she knew so she could fix an old air temple. Sokka came towards her.

"Okay, I got Appa! Aang wants to see you though, before you leave. He's really confused."

"Alright, I'll only be a few minutes Sokka." She ran up to the Fire Nation palace, where Aang was already standing on the steps, with a confused frown upon his face.

"Katara, why are you leaving?" He held his arms out for her, and she slipped into them with ease.

"I need to do something."

"Well if you wait a few, I'll go get my things and we'll go." Katara looked up at him.

"Aang, I need to go alone. I'll be gone for a while, and you can't leave here, not when everything is finally starting to go back to some semblance of normal for more than ten minutes." She smirked at her last statement. It was very true though. Although it had been six years since the fall of Ozai, the world was still recovering. Things would be normal for a while, but then a new riot would break out, or an overzealous general would come along.

Aang sighed. He knew there was no stopping her, there never was. It was just one thing on a list of many that he loved about her. "How long will you be gone?"

"Only a couple months," she replied. She stood on her tiptoes to softly kiss his mouth. He'd gotten a good three inches or so taller than her in recent years. "I'll be back before you know it." He smiled, and pulled her into a hug.

"I'll miss you," he whispered in her ear. "More than anything." He hugged her tighter, and she hugged him just as tight.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too," he said. He let her go. "Hurry back." She smiled, kissed his cheek, and ran down the steps to a waiting Sokka, who had Appa all ready to go. She climbed aboard, and they were off.

Katara and Sokka, after three days of flying, landed at the Southern Air Temple. Sokka had left soon after arriving. He didn't like being away from Suki for so long. Katara looked around. It definitely had signs of abandon, that was for sure. Everything was cracked and dusty. She wandered the halls and rooms. She decided to wait until morning to begin what she had come to do. She found a small room and set her things in it, deciding it would do as a bedroom for her stay. It was small, but very airy. It had a window on the wall opposite the door, and a set of bunk beds on both sides. She supposed this was where airbending students slept. Aang had never told her much about the way he lived, it was too painful. She sat on one bed, thinking of him. She laid down. She fell asleep the instant her head hit her pillow.

The next morning dawned bright and the sunlight through the window woke Katara up. She sat up, stretched, and just looked around the room for a moment.

"What in the world have I gotten myself into?" She wondered aloud. She smiled to herself, and got up. She ate her breakfast in silence, and walked out the the main courtyard to begin her restoration of the ancient temple.

Aang was restless. It had been five months since Katara had left, and he'd barely heard from her. Sokka went to see her and make sure she was okay every few weeks, but he had said that Katara didn't want Aang to come. Aang wondered if he did something wrong. He said so out loud to Momo, who was laying with him on his bed.

"I can't even begin to think of what she could possibly be doing that's taking so long! And why can't I visit her? She's my wife for pete's sake!" Momo chattered at him. Aang sighed. "You're right Momo. She has a good reason for all this. I just wish she'd hurry back home. I miss her so much."

Time passed, and soon it had been eight months since Katara had left. She'd spent eight months restoring the old temple, and while some of it truly couldn't be done without an airbender, she'd done quite a bit. The temple's gardens were flourishing again, and the springs and fountains bubbled a happy tune, instead of the lonely one they'd come to repeat. Katara sighed happily. Everything was perfect. She'd left Gyatso where he was, figuring when Aang got here, he'd want a last goodbye. But by using the pictures on the walls, she managed to do what she thought was a decent job of putting the rooms and halls back together.

"I think it's time for Aang to come home." She said to the statue of Gyatso.

When Sokka came the next day, that's exactly what she told him. And for the first time in eight months, she left the Southern Air Temple.

For Aang, today was just another boring day. Ironically, after Katara had left, he hadn't been needed even once to calm something down. _'Figures,'_ he thought. He was wandering the Fire Nation palace gardens when Appa flew overhead. _'Sokka's back,' _Aang thought. _'Maybe he has a letter for me from Katara.'_ And so Aang went to go see Sokka.

By the time he got to the steps of the palace, Sokka and Katara were feeding a very hungry Appa after his long flight. "It's a good thing this is one of the last flights there and back, I think Appa's getting sick of them." Sokka said. Appa licked Sokka from toe to head in recognition. Katara laughed.

Aang stopped at the sight of the woman with Sokka. _'Can it be?'_ he thought. He thought it was Katara, but she was so... round. As he was staring at this woman, trying to figure out if it was in fact Katara, she turned, and upon seeing him, a smile lit up her face. _'I know that smile. It really is her.'_ Aang opened up his glider and flew over to her.

"Katara! How... what... where..." Aang could barely make coherent sentences. All he could really do was gawk at her. She rushed towards him and hugged him tight. His arms automatically went around her and he buried his head in her hair. "I've missed you," was all he could say, over and over.

"I've missed you too. But I have something to tell you." Katara pulled back. "I'm pregnant Aang." She smiled. Aang smiled too.

"That's wonderful." He spun her around. "Though I kind of guessed." He said with a smirk, and he kissed her. Oh, how he'd missed kissing her. He pulled away. "But that can't be why you've been gone so long. What in the world were you doing for eight months? And did you know about the baby before you left? Why didn't you tell me?"

All Katara said was, "You'll see." She pulled him back to her mouth to make up for some lost time.

The next morning, Aang woke up to a sleeping Katara in his arms. He pulled her closer. He'd missed her almost more than he could bear. Although she hadn't answered any of his questions the night before, he just couldn't be upset with her. He'd missed her too much to let anything spoil their reunion. She stirred and opened her eyes. She turned towards him.

"Good morning," she said.

Aang smiled and kissed her forehead. "Morning beautiful. So are you going to tell me where you were?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "You never give up, do you?" Aang grinned.

"Nope. Shouldn't you know that by now?"

Katara laughed lightly. "Alright, well, let's get dressed and then we'll leave. It'll take about three days to get there." Katara got out of bed and went to go get dressed, leaving Aang questioning what she'd said.

"Three days? Where in Avatar's sake were you? The South Pole?" Aang called after her. Katara laughed again.

"You'll see." She sang.

After they were both dressed and packed- Katara had told him to pack everything and that they wouldn't be coming back- they went to go say goodbyes.

"Behave you two!" Sokka said. "And enjoy it Aang." Sokka smiled, having one of his rare serious moments. "I'll miss you." Katara and a confused Aang hugged him goodbye.

"I'm glad Katara did this for you Aang, since I know I couldn't, no matter what I did." Zuko said. Now Aang was really confused. "I'll miss you."

"Thanks Zuko. I'll miss you too."

Aang and Katara went through all their various goodbyes, each one leaving Aang more and more curious and confused. Finally, they boarded Appa and it was time to go.

"You know where Appa! Yip yip!" Katara yelled. In no time, they were flying over the crystal clear sea towards a destination still unknown to Aang.

It was day three of their journey. Katara, being eight months pregnant, had slept the majority of the first two days, but excitement and nervousness kept her up as they neared their destination. Katara was staring into the ocean when Aang spoke to her.

"Katara, do you think you could answer some of my questions now?" Katara waited a moment, sighed, then turned and smiled at him.

"Sure Aang. What do you want to know?" Aang got up and walked to sit next to her. He put his arms around her and she settled into them with ease. Aang started to softly stroke her hair.

"Did you know about the baby before you left?"

Katara waited a moment before softly answering, "Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me? Didn't you think I deserved to know?"

Katara sat up and looked at him. She could see the hurt that was in his eyes. "Of course I did Aang. But I had to do something first, and I knew that if I told you about the baby you wouldn't let me out of your sight no matter what. Do you understand?" She saw the hurt in his eyes dissipate.

"Yeah, I guess." Aang pulled her close again. "So do you know if it's a boy or girl?" Katara settled back into his arms and wrapped hers around his waist.

"No. But I think it's a boy. I can just... feel it." She felt Aang slightly laugh.

"What are we going to name him then?" Katara was silent. "Katara?" Aang asked after a minute of silence.

Katara spoke softly. "If it's okay with you... I want to name him Gyatso." Aang was shocked.

"How come?" He asked softly.

"Well, he was someone close to you. And, he helped me do something. He came to me in a dream and told me something about the baby." Katara sat up and looked into Aang's confused face. "He's going to be an airbender Aang."

It took Aang a minute to absorb what Katara was saying. He removed his arms from around her and put his elbows on his knees, covering his face with his hands. "Are you sure?" His voice was muffled.

Katara put her hand on his shoulder. "Yes." Aang signed and moved his face to rest on his fists.

"Wow," he whispered. "Just... wow." He turned towards Katara. She had a soft smile on her face, but he could see the worry in her eyes. She was worried about how he was taking the news. He pulled her towards him, tears forming and falling from his eyes. "You're the most wonderful wife in the world Katara." She hugged him and rubbed his back lightly.

"I love you Aang." Suddenly, Appa made a noise. He was telling them that they were there. "But you have to open your eyes now, and look." Aang let go of her, his tears already dried, and they both turned towards their destination.

_'No. It can't be,' _thought Aang. He looked to Katara for an answer. She smiled at him.

"I've been here for the past eight months," she explained as Appa landed. They both got off him. "When Gyatso told me our baby was going to be an airbender, I decided I wanted him to grow up in his true culture. I wanted him to grow up where you did. So I cleaned it up a bit." Aang tooka few steps forward and turned to her.

"Katara," he breathed, "this is... unbelievable. It looks like it did when the airbenders were here." Katara smiled.

"That was the idea." Her smile left her face. "I left Gyatso where we originally found him Aang, all those years ago. I thought you might want a last goodbye with him." Aang walked to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"This is the most amazing thing you've ever done for me Katara. I... are you sure about this? Are you sure you want to live here?" His eyes searched hers for any trace of doubt.

"Yes. I'm positive Aang. This is where I want our baby to grow up... where I want us to be." Aang kissed her then. The need for air pulled them apart, and they hugged tightly.

"I love you Katara. For forever." Aang whispered.

"And I love you too Aang, forever." Katara replied.

And with that, they began the rest of their lives, enjoying their long awaited peace.

"See? Did I not tell you it would work out? Pay up!"

Monk Tashi grumbled while handing Monk Gyatso his dues. "It was just a lucky play."

"Life is not a game of luck my friend," Monk Gyatso said, while pocketing his winnings. "It is a game of love."

**The End.**

**Monk Tashi actually appears in the series, in the episode 'The Storm.' He's the really strict monk. My title choice comes from the idea that Aang and Katara are building up the Air culture again, straight from rock bottom. **

**Well I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please let me know how I did!**

**DM1301**


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